EU ‘not here to help Lebanese oligarchs’ says politician in sanctions warning
Lebanese MPs must tackle the country’s financial crisis or it will not gain access to EU help – and may even face sanctions, a French MEP has said.
“The most important thing to do now that the elections are over is to focus on the financial system,” Christophe Grudler told The National on Tuesday.
“I think that the EU must not be afraid of inflicting sanctions if we give money and it ends up in the pockets of the same people. We’re not here to help Lebanese oligarchs.”
The parliamentary election on Sunday was paid for in large part by the EU.
Turnout was yesterday revised to 49.6 per cent from an initial figure of 41 per cent.
In April, the International Monetary Fund agreed to give Lebanon access to the equivalent of about $3 billion, but only if it enacted reforms, including to its financial sector.
Politicians have promised, yet not delivered, such reforms since at least 2018, when France hosted an international conference to help Lebanon.
“If there’s no agreement with the IMF, Lebanon is dead,” Mr Grudler said.
“The number of people emigrating will be massive. [Lebanon] will be an empty shell.”
Lebanon’s third wave of mass departures is already under way, the American University of Beirut said in September.
Analysts fear the results of the country’s latest election, which resulted in a parliament more polarised than ever, may delay decision making.
Hezbollah and its allies lost their parliamentary majority and the Lebanese Forces, a Christian party that is fiercely opposed to the Iran-backed Shiite movement, took at least 10 more seats than in 2018.
But Mr Grudler, one of seven MEPs who took part in an EU election observation mission to Lebanon, said he was optimistic about the chances of politicians collaborating to bring in reforms.
Mr Grudler is a member of the centrist Renew group in the European Parliament and is one of the rapporteurs of an EU resolution that called for sanctions on Lebanese officials in September last year.
The resolution came three months after the EU adopted a legal framework to impose sanctions on Lebanese officials who undermine democracy or the rule of law. It has yet to be introduced.
The election of about 13 independent opposition figures on Sunday is a good signal to the international community, said Mr Grudler.
“It’s not a coincidence that some of the system’s most emblematic figures lost,” he said. “It’s the beginning of change.”